In a large open park near the Tsunami Museum is a well preserved DC3 mounted on a high pedestal. This was newly independent Indonesia's first airliner. After WW II, the Dutch were still intent on reclaiming their colony, and had managed to capture enough parts of Sumatra to isolate Aceh. Using funds donated by the Acehnese people, the government purchased the airliner to get around the blockade.
Indonesia's first airliner, a DC3.
The plane became Indonesia's first airliner and Indonesian Airways went on to become the national carrier, Garuda. The airliner was restored and erected in the park in the 1980s. In the Tsunami Museum, you will see photos of the park covered in debris up almost to the landing gear of the plane.
The paved pathway circling the park in lined with small plaques mounted on the concrete pedestals in the shape of half-buried boats. The individual plaques thank each of the dozens of nations that helped in the aftermath of the tsunami. At the western side of the park is a larger memorial, backed by stylized waves. Embedded in the pavement around the waves are plaques recounting the cost of the catastrophe, such as the 4,717 coastal fishing boats lost or destroyed.